England’s left-back Alex Greenwood and goalkeeper Siobhan Chamberlain have been unveiled as two of the 21 players signed by Manchester United as they prepare to embark on their first season in the women’s Championship.

The manager, Casey Stoney, played with both in the Lionesses defence and at Liverpool until her retirement in February and they are two of seven defensive players poached from her former club.

Stoney, who had expressed her surprise at the ease of recruitment to the new side, said: “We’ve gone young, we’ve gone exciting, we’ve gone entertaining. I’m more than aware that we’re bringing 21 strangers together but I’m really excited about the squad and the future of this team.”

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Seven of the squad – Fran Bentley, Kirsty Hanson, Naomi Hartley, Emily Ramsey, Ella Toone, Millie Turner, Katie Zelem – are back at the club having spent all or part of their youth careers at Manchester United’s highly regarded centre of excellence.

The midfielder Zelem has left Juventus after one season, having won the Serie A title, to return to Manchester. Leah Galton had announced she would be taking a break from football – cutting short a spell at Bayern Munich in which she played only one game – but has been enticed back.

The assistant manager Willie Kirk’s influence is evident, with Aimee Palmer and Millie Turner picked up from his former club Bristol City. Kirsty Smith and Lizzie Arnot – who finished as the third highest goalscorer in the Scottish Women’s Premier League – have been brought in from Kirk’s former employers Hibernian.

For firepower, Stoney has raided the tier-two champions Doncaster Rovers Belles, who have been forced to join Sheffield FC in withdrawing from the Championship because they cannot compete financially. Jess Sigsworth and Kirsty Hanson got 25 goals between them in all competitions last season and finished second and forth in the league’s scoring charts, sandwiching the 17-year-old Ebony Salmon, who has joined from Aston Villa.

After a whirlwind recruitment period Stoney’s side began their pre-season preparations on 8 July but the manager will lose up to four players from her squad because Charlie Devlin, Aimee Palmer, Toone and the goalkeeper Ramsey (the youngest under-20 squad member) are on Mo Marley’s long list for the three-week under-20 Women’s World Cup in France in August.

The first test of how quickly Manchester United have been able to gel is on Sunday when they play Liverpool in a behind-closed-doors friendly.